


the archipelago (bookkeeper au)

by metamookiisle



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magic, Comfort, Earth Magic, Elemental Magic, Fantasy, Fire Magic, Fluff, Magic, Magic-Users, Minecraft, No Romance, Platonic Relationships, Sleepyboisinc - Freeform, Water Magic, Wings, air magic, bookkeeper au, hahhahhahah guess who uses which type of magic, hrrrghhgrhghrghr, lots and lots of fantasy guys, lots of kinesis, mcyt - Freeform, no character death at all /srs, phil is from caeli, pure brainrot, realms, sbi, slight angst, techno is from terram, tommy is from ignis, tubbo and tommy are best friends, tubbos also from ignis bc him and tommy u know, wilbur is from thalassa
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-07
Updated: 2020-11-21
Packaged: 2021-03-09 06:06:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,394
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27429916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/metamookiisle/pseuds/metamookiisle
Summary: Tommy had to join the Archipelago.It was part of his destiny. He knew.Sixteen-year-old Tommy knew he was supposed to do it.The Archipelago, being the home of the sacred four bookkeepers and incomplete, missing one from Ignis, needed him.Why him?He had the abilities. He had the powers.pleabe read this :smile: its so cool i am thinking about it so much weewoo um also i really hope i dont lose motivation on this ,,,, like ,,,,, i really doi know bookkeeper au doesnt sound interesting but PLEASE hrrrgrhr its so cool the lore and h
Relationships: Dave | Technoblade & Phil Watson, Dave | Technoblade & TommyInnit, Dave | Technoblade & Wilbur Soot, Dave | Technoblade & Wilbur Soot & TommyInnit & Phil Watson, No Romantic Relationship(s), Toby Smith | Tubbo & TommyInnit, TommyInnit & Phil Watson (Video Blogging RPF), Wilbur Soot & Phil Watson, Wilbur Soot & TommyInnit, platonic - Relationship
Comments: 44
Kudos: 341





	1. 1

Tommy had to join the Archipelago.

It was part of his destiny. He knew.

Sixteen-year-old Tommy knew he was supposed to do it.

The Archipelago, being the home of the sacred four bookkeepers and _incomplete_ , missing one from Ignis, needed him.

Why him?

He had the abilities. He had the powers.

Born with odd talents that nobody in the entire realm taught him how to harness, Tommy didn’t know anything at first. He resorted to using them recklessly and clumsily not sure how to go about training himself.

He burned himself, his hands bringing scorching flame to stretch and twist between each other in mesmerizing arcs, and felt nothing. His skin would look as red as his scales, and as soon as you could say “incredible”, the wounds would be gone.

He controlled the power of the technology in his small town close to the capital of the realm, watching as wires and computers frizzled out as their sparkling electricity surrounded him in currents and waves. He could lower the temperature of the air around him, but he didn’t know how to do it reasonably.

He never knew how to use them all. He was the only one who had any sort of magic.

“The Archipelago requires four magic users from each realm, right?” asked Tubbo, Tommy’s best friend in the whole wide world.

Tommy hummed a noise of agreement and ducked to avoid Tubbo’s wings as his friend paced the small room. He reached for his satchel and gently placed his smaller ender bag in it that contained all his clothes inside. The finishing touch to his journey ahead.

“Well, think about it this way,” continued Tubbo, vibrant green scales flashing across his cheekbones in the midday light.

“You’ll complete the set. You’ve got the magic, and from what the Council has been saying for years, the members from Caeli, Thalassa, and Terram have already fulfilled their positions. To complete the cycle, you need to be there. You’ll be the one from Ignis—“

“I don’t want to spend _all_ my fucking time there, Tubbo,” snapped Tommy, flapping his satchel closed a little more forcefully than he consciously intended to. Tubbo flinched in the corner of his eye, and Tommy reflexively turned to him, regretful.

Tommy put a hand on his friend’s upper arm. He explained quietly. “Sorry. I’m just nervous. I don’t even know the other bookkeepers. ‘M not angry at _you_ or anything, I just…”

He didn’t want to say it.

He didn’t want to say it, because if he did, he would end up crying.

The air was still. The temperature in the room dropped by a couple degrees.

Tubbo gently smiled and took Tommy’s hand off his shoulder, instead intertwining their pinkies together. He looked down.

“I know you didn’t mean to. 

“You know, you can still visit. It’s not like the Archipelago would suffer or deteriorate without you there. It’d stay the same. How else has it been doing in the past, I don’t know, twenty years?”

Tommy looked down as well at both of their shoes, remembering the memories they had together. He remembered stomping through the dry earth together when they were younger. He remembered learning how to fly with Tubbo, their first nighttime flights being exhilarating. He remembered when they were just toddlers, bonding over the fact that they didn’t have parents.

He tried not to cry.

“I…” he began, but cut himself off before the tears in his eyes could roll down his cheeks, hot and heavy. His wings shifted almost irritably.

He looked back up to see Tubbo smiling.

“Actually, I have two presents for you, you know.”

“Are they because I’m so swag?”

“You are very swag, but these are because you’re leaving.”

“Aw,” Tommy replied sarcastically, pretending to be disappointed. Tubbo swung his bag over his shoulder so it rested on his stomach and rummaged through it. He soon found the trinkets he was looking for through all his bee-related things, and pulled out… a bee-related thing.

To be more specific, a necklace, really, on a thin golden chain that looked so delicate that Tommy thought if he put it on it would break. On that necklace was a small charm that depicted a fuzzy little bumblebee.

“It’s not really much,” said Tubbo bashfully. “I just thought you might want something to remember me by so you don’t forget to visit every so often. Maybe one day I can even come there with you.”

Tommy slowly took the necklace from him and put it on, afraid it would snap, afraid their friendship would snap.

“If you don’t like it, I can—“

“I’m never taking this off,” Tommy said, completely serious.

A beat, then both of their laughter ringing through the room.

The brunette wheezed. “Alright then,” he giggled. “But I’ve got another thing for you.”

Tommy made grabby hands as Tubbo reached into his bag once again. “Be patient,” he scolded, swatting his hand away.

“Here we are!” he exclaimed, and placed a communicator into Tommy’s red scaled hands.

Tommy turned it over a couple times, a tad confused. “This is just a regular high-end comm. Doesn’t look like it’s been used, but there’s a little bee and a disc carved into the back,” he noted.

“Not just any regular comm,” Tubbo said, waggling his finger. “I’ve _upgraded_ it. This comm can contact a matching one I have here from _any_ realm, including the Archipelago—basically Aithir.”

Tommy blinked. “Wait, what?”

“Thalassa, Caeli, Terram, even Aithir—you name it. We can speak to each other. This one’s got messaging and voice calls, so we can stay in contact through both ways!” Tubbo’s green and black wings gleefully flapped around behind him, blowing some papers around on a nearby desk. “And it’s super durable!”

“Matching comms,” Tommy mused, and pulled his bag onto his shoulder. “You never cease to amaze me, Big T.”

“I know.”

He stooped down to hug Tubbo, hoping he wouldn’t break, and wrapped his arms around him. Their height difference made it look awkward like usual, but it was comfortable between them. It always was.

They were always comfortable together.

They let go of each other after god knows how long. Tommy took a deep breath and straightened his back, and with a wavering voice, said,

“I don’t want to leave.”

“I don’t want you to leave,” said Tubbo, blue eyes watery and red. “Promise to call when you get there?”

“I promise,” whispered Tommy, letting the tears fall down.

Their pinkies linked one final time, and they looked each other in the eye and cried together.

When they decided Tommy needed to get a move on, he clipped the communicator to his belt, hugged Tubbo one final time, and set off on his journey.


	2. 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He was about to tap the “call” button, looking forward to finally hearing Tubbo’s voice after a week and a half, and was jolted out of his thoughts by a hand on his shoulder, rather scaly and with ridiculously long, webbed fingers.
> 
> His heart dropped and he fumbled with the comm, gloved hands nearly dropping it. His instincts kicked in and he froze completely, senses acute and ready to notice anything going wrong.
> 
> “Hello,” said a deep and charming voice behind him.
> 
> tommy finally meets wilbur and techno :]

At long last, Tommy was finally at the Archipelago.

Well, it had really only been a week and a half of traveling through Ignis and then Aithir—but it felt longer, seeing as he didn’t have a proper means of transportation other than portals scattered around the realms.

And he wasn’t quite there yet.

Tommy stood, wearily looking up into the sky, just barely seeing a massive chunk of land in the distance. He squinted, shading his eyes from the sun with one hand, using the other to fiddle aimlessly with Tubbo’s necklace (a habit he had developed ever since he got it), and sighed.

If he had to fly all the way up there, his wings would get tired quickly. They hadn’t finished growing; he was only a teenager, and he wasn’t fully developed as a being at all. Sure, enhancements and lessons existed, but he never had time or people to sign him up for them.

Thankfully, him and Tubbo had been flying for years, so he thought he was pretty good. They practiced when they were smaller, trying not to get their horns tangled, laughing and giggling as they flitted around the lands. They were simpler times.

He missed those simpler times.

Tommy mulled over the pros and cons before deciding that he would have to fly up there anyways since there seemed to be no other way up. All the maps lead to the one point he was at—he had passed a few other islands of the Archipelago on the way, but he figured he should have gone to the main one first.

It left him no choice.

He sighed again and tugged his boots up a little higher on his legs, then shook his arms out, spreading and stretching his wings. His shoulderblades popped a couple times, but otherwise he was fine. Everything would be fine. He’d fly up, go in, introduce himself to the other bookkeepers, and do whatever bookkeepers did for who knows how long. Psyching himself up was good enough to keep him energized.

He inhaled deeply, flapped his wings experimentally, and took flight, aiming for the large structure in the sky.

Techno sensed the teen coming before he saw him.

He was sharpening his unusually large axe collection about thirty minutes prior to the stranger’s arrival when he sensed footsteps on the ground underneath the floating island of the main library. His ears twitched a couple times. The light in his skin grew brighter around his feet as his abilities sent signals to the earth around him.

A visitor.

He smiled to himself a bit evilly. Wilbur loved to mess with visitors in the mazes. Whoever this was would get a real treat.

He waited half an hour. The footsteps paced, shuffled on the ground, and suddenly the footsteps disappeared. He paused his actions for a couple seconds, expecting to feel them at least fade away as the person walked away, but they just vanished into thin air.

Techno’s pupils narrowed. Into thin air.

They flew.

He left his room and speed-walked down the shiny, clean hallway, boots clicking on the floor. They flew.

 _Someone from Caeli or Ignis,_ he thought, _because those are the only realms that have people born with wings._ Unless someone had prosthetics, which was uncommon, so he was able to rule out the possibility.

He didn’t expect anyone from Caeli to be coming. The people of the air realm were courteous enough to let others know when they would be visiting. But if not Caeli, then why Ignis? Why would someone from the darkest realm visit the Archipelago?

Realization hit him like a book to the face.

Weren't they missing a bookkeeper?

Techno opened the door to Wilbur’s room, a little out of breath. “Wilbur,” he gasped. “Ignis—flying—” he made random gestures with his hands to signify someone was approaching “—up here _now_ —”

“ _What?_ ” said the Thalassa native, getting up from his resting position at his interface desk. “I have zero idea what you’re saying, Techno.”

“The Ignis bookkeeper is here!” Techno blurted, and _sprinted_ out of the room in a rather undignified fashion.

Wilbur’s mouth opened and closed. Oh.

He facepalmed and ran out to follow Techno to the entrance of the island.

Tommy struggled to fly the last few meters of the space between the giant fucking rock in the sky and the ground. The last thing he had needed that day was more exertion, but he sure got it.

He stayed stationary in the air for a good five seconds and landed on the ground, then stumbled.

“Holy shit,” he muttered to himself weakly, gasping for air. That took a lot more out of him than he expected. He’d be sleeping deeply that night (if he even knew where he would be sleeping).

He tried to catch his breath, waiting a couple moments to rest, and decided he needed to get it over with as soon as possible to call Tubbo.

He wanted to let his best friend know he was safe. Could you blame him?

He looked up and saw an impossibly big structure, an intricately designed and ornate building made of iridescent, shimmering white stone. It had four large towers in each corner and some kind of courtyard in the center. The windows were huge and had stained-glass designs in the corners, and through them he could see rows and rows of books and technology.

The highlights of the building that really caught his eye were the four beacons shining straight up into the heavens from each pillar. Each was a different color—green, pink, yellow, and red.

Tommy tilted his head, confused. Those weren’t the colors that represented each main realm, which is what he thought would be the case. Green and red did represent two of them, but yellow and pink were not one of the four.

Truly perplexing.

So he did what he usually did with most confusing situations—took it headfirst, and walked right up to the pure white double doors smack-dab in the middle of the front of the building.

He expected to be able to push them open, but as soon as he got within 10 feet of the doors, glowing red circuitry lit up on the ground where his feet stood uncertainly and raced to the doors. They pulsed with the same red light and slowly creaked open.

He couldn’t tell if it was creepy or welcoming, and he wasn’t sure whether to laugh in amazement of the technology or cry.

He stepped inside, immediately feeling a wash of cool air that smelled like the ocean and flowers blow around him. Perhaps it was the high altitude carrying the scents of the realm crossroads nearby?

He shook his head, deciding not to think too hard about it, and looked around the inside of the first floor of the Archipelago. He expected to notice something interesting, but it was just… rows of books. Rows and rows of impossibly high bookshelves, staircases interspersed between them.

He groaned. Would he be stuck as a _librarian_ for all of eternity, keeping all those books clean or something? He regretted being born with powers. He was already bored just looking at all the old books.

What a waste of time.

Tommy unclipped the communicator from his belt and figured he could call Tubbo, seeing as he was much too exhausted to start trying to find the other bookkeepers. He just refused to do it. Anything but more traveling.

He was about to tap the “call” button, looking forward to finally hearing Tubbo’s voice after a week and a half, and was jolted out of his thoughts by a hand on his shoulder, rather scaly and with ridiculously long, webbed fingers.

His heart dropped and he fumbled with the comm, gloved hands nearly dropping it. His instincts kicked in and he froze completely, senses acute and ready to notice anything going wrong.

“Hello,” said a deep and charming voice behind him.

Tommy turned around and looked up into a Thalassan’s blue and brown eyes.

The person whose hand was on Tommy’s shoulder was a very tall and lanky young man, who was evidently from the water realm, given the fins and scales adorning his body. The scales were blue, dotted with yellow ones here and there, and instead of ears, he had fins. There were also smaller and more transparent fins on his forearms and calves, he noted as he stepped away and brushed the hand off his shoulder, with holes cut out in the clothes he was wearing to accommodate them.

The man himself was, like Tommy said, very tall, with a slightly more tan complexion than his own (understandable, since everyone in Ignis got a lot less sun) and curly brown hair. Upon closer examination, the scales on his body came across the bridge of his nose. They glittered in the light shining through the windows.

He also had brown eyes, with bright blue in the center and a slit pupil. The smile he bore was genuine but looked dangerous to Tommy, what with the fangs.

Tommy stepped back further, pulling a dagger out of his satchel and putting on the bravest voice he could muster. “S-stay back,” he warned, holding the weapon in his shaking hand, bending his knees in case he needed to run.

The stranger frowned, brows furrowing. “You didn’t say hello back. How rude.”

His voice was friendly, but he as a whole was unfamiliar and therefore scary to the sixteen-year-old. Tommy waved his dagger around some more and his wings flared behind him, a testimony to his fear. “Well… I…”

The other sighed. “Look. I’m Wilbur, and I’m not going to hurt you. Neither is Techno here,” _Wilbur_ said, and jabbed his thumb behind his shoulder to motion towards a figure Tommy didn’t previously notice.

Said figure stepped into view out of the shadows behind Wilbur, and if Tommy wasn’t terrified before, he sure was then.

This new person was around Tommy’s height, perhaps a little taller, and had a long pink braid with vines braided into it. This man wore a trailing grey cloak that seemed to be made of fog, as it made a sort of vaporless mist across the floor in a small radius around him. A golden laurel crown rested upon his head with various valuable-looking jewels studded into it. He also wore rather kingly attire—a white blouse, a sash around the waist, brown pants, and boots with vines twisting around the lower legs. Lots of natural elements, so he was probably Terran.

He had tired blue eyes with slit pupils like Wilbur’s, and there were tusks protruding from his bottom jaw. They weren’t thick or clunky but they looked very sharp and very dangerous.

The most striking feature of his was cracks running all throughout his skin. They resembled scars, except for the fact that there was light emanating from within the cracks. The light pulsed and shimmered, going from pink to gold to red to other colors, and it would have been cool if Tommy wasn’t about to faint from exhaustion and fear.

This man—Techno?—opened his mouth, and out came a deeper, more rumbling voice than any other Tommy had ever heard.

“Yeah, we don’t wanna cause any harm,” he said.

Tommy didn’t pay attention.

All Tommy saw were the extremely fucking sharp teeth inside Techno’s mouth.

He felt as if his knees were going to give out on him and he inhaled shakily, lowering his dagger. “This is so confusing,” he breathed out. He was about to have a literal breakdown. He just flew so much and all he wanted to do was talk to Tubbo.

“We’re the other bookkeepers,” said Techno, as if that helped at all.

“You’ve gotta come with us,” added Wilbur. “Phil has to meet you too. After all, he’s kind of the head of the Archipelago.”

“I don’t want to go anywhere yet. I want to call my friend.”

“No, you’re coming with us.” the tallest chirped.

Tommy’s eyes narrowed and his breathing became a bit more shallow. “No.”

Techno pulled an extremely sharp and dangerous-looking axe seemingly out of nowhere. “I don’t think you heard Wilbur correctly.”

Wilbur looked back at Techno. “Don’t pull the axe out on him, you asshole.”

“He’s being too stubborn,” Techno argued back, light on his skin changing to red and orange.

Tommy began to get tunnel vision as the two strange people bickered. He literally just wanted to call Tubbo. Was that too much to ask?

“Well, you’re all just being right dickheads,” he said faintly, before passing out and crumpling on the floor, dagger clattering to the smooth ground.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yo yo yo i hope u r liking it so far !! again if the weird end notes thing is happening lmk how 2 fix it :]
> 
> twitter: heymetamooki  
> instagram: biquegg  
> im gonna be drawing this au there >:)
> 
> give me kudos or i will eat ur knees <3 comments are fun too cause u guys make me really happy !!!!!!!!
> 
> SELF CARE!!!!!! DO IT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE U TAKE CARE OF URSELF !!!!!!!!!!!


	3. 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boy’s pale face got impossibly paler. “This has all got to be some shitty nightmare.”
> 
> Cheerily, Wilbur replied, “No, it’s very much real,” at the same time that Phil said “Huh? Why?”.
> 
> tommy meets phil !!

Phil found the passed-out teen quite interesting.

After all, he was supposed to be the next bookkeeper. That is, if he had some magic ability. It could be over with quickly—Phil could just rest his fingertips on the boy’s arm and reach into his subconscious to get information quickly, but he didn’t feel like being invasive.

A new bookkeeper.

This new boy was definitely two things: younger than all the others, and from Ignis. You could tell the first observation was true by the youth in his face, and the second one was very apparent, as he had the telltale pair of leathery wings (black and red in his case), red horns in the midst of his blonde hair, pointed ears, a little tail, and red scales across the very tips of his cheekbones and on his extremities.

Phil’s pair of wings nestled into his hair flapped idly a couple times before he noticed Techno prodding the boy with his sword beside him.

“Techno, stop poking him.”

“Why?” he responded bluntly, continuing to lightly jab the teen laying on the medical bay bed.

“Why wouldn’t you?” Phil retorted.

“It’s fun.”

Wilbur bounced into the room—ducking under the doorway to fit since he was so freakishly tall— grinning widely, holding a large pail at his side full of sloshing water. “Hey guys, I brought a bucket of water!”

“Couldn’t you have just conjured it like usual?” Techno queried. To Phil’s relief, he put his sword away and stopped nudging the innocent Ignis citizen with it.

“More fun to go and do something _manually_. I wanted to see if the child would wake up and see me come in so I could spill it on him while he was awake.”

“Why are you boys always fucking around like this?” Phil asked, exasperated.

Silence.

Wilbur sat down at the foot of the bed, moving a tray with gauze to the side to fit his bucket of water. “...Anyways, why haven’t you found out his name yet?”

Phil knew they were switching the subject, but it was a good topic. “I don’t want to be all intrusive, reading him while he’s asleep. It wouldn’t feel right. I’d like him to trust me more first before intruding on his subconscious mind,” he admitted.

Techno huffed and crossed his arms. The jewels and golden laurel leaves in his hair shined, reflecting light shining from the cracks running down his skin. “We’re not even sure if he’s supposed to be the Ignis bookkeeper. How do we know he’s got powers too?”

“Well, why else would someone from Ignis come all the way here? We rarely ever see anyone from there.” Wilbur tapped his bucket of water in an impatient manner, eyeing the stranger questionably.

“True, but we should wake him up sometime soon.”

Phil rubbed his chin. “I’ve got the smelling salts here; we could probably use those.”

“...Or we could dump the wat—“

“Absolutely not, Wilbur.” He shot the Thalassan a withering glare.

“I could stab him awa—.”

“Absolutely _fucking_ not, Technoblade.” He sent one Techno’s way as well.

Wilbur was miffed. “Fine, use the smelling salts like a _normal person_ , I guess.”

Phil flipped off Wilbur and stood up. He walked over to a cabinet, making sure to lightly whack Techno on the head with his wings when he saw him pulling his sword out again. He grabbed a medium-sized glass jar labelled “salts” from the cabinet and walked back to the bed and sat down again. He uncorked the jar in his hands, anticipating what was to come, and looked at Techno and Wilbur. They both nodded, faces becoming serious.

The possibility of Phil also scaring him was definitely there. For one, he had eyes with no sclera. That would be a factor of fear. He was probably strange and unusual to him—Caelians and Ignia didn’t interact often.

But the sooner they could get him introduced and accustomed to the Archipelago, the better.

Phil went ahead and waved the jar under their new prospective recruit’s nose a couple times and fanned the smell with his hand. The aroma of eucalyptus and ammonia wafted through the medbay and he saw Techno wrinkle his nose out of the corner of his eye.

Luckily, the boy stirred, coughing due to the vapor, and Phil closed the jar.

The teen groaned, opening his eyes, bringing a scaly hand up to cover his side. “...Who the fuck is poking me?”

Phil snapped his head towards Techno and saw it was in fact Wilbur who took Techno’s sword and was poking the boy with it, and smacked it away. Techno was also holding Wilbur’s water bucket over said boy’s head, and Phil drew his thumb across his throat, slightly infuriated. Thankfully Techno lowered the bucket. Phil took a deep breath and turned back to the center of his attention.

“Hi, we’re not going to hurt you. Wil and Techno told me about the little mishap you had earlier, so I decided to wake you up.”

The boy’s pale face got impossibly paler. “This has all got to be some shitty nightmare.”

Cheerily, Wilbur replied, “No, it’s very much real,” at the same time that Phil said “Huh? Why?”.

“I need to call Tubbo, oh god—“ he said as he frantically looked around for something; perhaps his bag or a communicator. Who was this Tubbo? _Probably a friend,_ Phil thought.

“I’m going to fucking lose it, holy shit—which room is this? Where are the books? Where’s my comm and my bag? Am I in the Archipelago?”

Phil held up his hands, attempting to calm him down. “Hey, hey, calm down. I promise we won’t do anything. Your bag is safe and sound and so is your comm. And yes, you're just in the medical room of the Archipelago.”

The boy breathed a sigh of relief and his posture relaxed a little. He looked at Wilbur and Techno and his face soured.

Phil tried to distract him from the Thalassan and Terran who had caused him to faint in the first place. “You must be really confused, so, ah… I’m Phil,” he said, and stuck out his hand.

Better to build up trust.

The youngest took his hand warily and shook it. “...I’m Tommy.” Phil now noticed he had bright blue eyes with horizontal pupils.

“These are Techno and Wilbur. Sorry about them scaring you, they’re quite rowdy and frankly very stupid.”

“ _Hey!_ ” said Wilbur indignantly. Techno was simply quiet, like how he usually got around people he didn’t know. He still frowned.

Tommy stood up and Phil realized just how tall he was, and he stopped himself from making a “ _How’s the weather up there?_ ” joke. He was almost as tall as Techno, and that did intimidate him a bit.

Tommy yawned and stretched (Phil could tell he had small, sharp teeth), his wings extending behind him. They smacked Techno in the face (which was, unfortunately, the second time that happened to the poor pink-haired man that day). 

Techno made a noise of irritation and swatted it away. Tommy turned around to look at him, putting his arms down, and they stared at each other for a good unsettling thirty seconds.

“You could at least apologize,” Techno prompted.

Tommy shrugged.

Techno shrugged back. “Alright.”

“ _Awk-ward,_ ” sung Wilbur.

Phil resisted the urge to strangle the tallest and smiled politely instead, clasping his hands together. “Ignore those childish motherfuckers. Anyways, it’s best to get onto the topic, hm?”

Tommy nodded and said “Yeah” very eloquently. Phil stood up to face him. “You have magic, right?”

Tommy paused hesitantly. Phil waited, doubts arising in his mind, until Tommy took his fingerless gloves off and shoved them into his pocket. He brought his palms up to face each other and Phil saw little sparks futter and fly between his hands, then full ribbons of flame bending and twisting. The red and orange fire seemed to glow, a beautiful thing—but it unexpectedly began to spread, coming to the back of his scaled hands and almost getting to his arms. 

Tommy yelped, not knowing what to do, but luckily Wilbur waved his hand at him and a small cloud of mist enveloped the fire, putting it out quickly without drenching him. “Are you alright? Were you burnt?” asked the Thalassan, genuinely concerned.

Tommy shook his head, putting his gloves back on and averting his eyes. “It didn’t hurt—it’s never hurt at all—it just got a little out of control.” He stared at his hands for a little and glanced at Wilbur. “Wait, you just—”

“What? Magic? We all have it.”

Techno nodded. Phil smiled softly at Tommy, who looked like he was about to cry. “Really?” he said, voice breaking. “I’ve never met anyone else… I…”

Phil reached his arms out to Tommy, who stiffened but let him hug him.

“You must have felt alone. We all did.”

All of them.

But now the set was complete.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aight this will be the last chapter for tonight!! i dont know when the next one will be out or where im going w the plot but i hope i dont abandon it :"]]
> 
> i just found out some of the edits i made recently havent synced to my computers google docs which is :/ so im gonna go in tomorrow and fix it !! so if there are plot holes or unfinished sentences thats why aha (EDIT: I HAVE FIXED IT :D)
> 
> YES i am going to plug my socials in every chapter do not underestimate me  
> twitter: heymetamooki  
> instagram: biquegg
> 
> sorry for the long notes but the next chapter will hopefully be out most likely next sunday B)
> 
> comments are actually very nice cause y'all are rlly nice and so sweet and u all make me feel very warm and fuzzy . mm
> 
> self care. do it now or i will take your elbows and crunch them /j but ily pls take care of urself :D <3


	4. 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wilbur wailed loudly in the time out corner. “You’re being a bitch.”
> 
> “So? You’re the one who called me a child.”
> 
> pretty much a filler chapter but i liked writing it cause its funny to me

Tommy thought this _Phil_ was a tad unnerving.

For one, he had reflective light blue eyes with no sclera. They were like round mirrors that shimmered in the light. When Tommy made eye contact with him, he could see his own reflection. No pupils, no iris, just shiny blue eyes. Those were creepy. 

He also had long and sharp blue nails, which actually looked natural. And like any other Caelian, he had a large pair of wings on his back and a smaller pair on his head. They were the colour of a dusty blue sky about to storm and faded to a peaceful light blue towards the tips. The feathers looked soft and comforting. He didn’t know much about wings, but he certainly knew the difference between Caelian wings and Ignia wings.

Now, Tommy didn’t know much about Caelians, much less the whole bookkeeper situation. He knew that he was born with magical abilities, that he was one of a kind.

Back in Ignis he felt like some sort of museum exhibit, being the only magic user. People would ask him to do something with his magic and then call him a freak behind his back or tell others he was faking it.

He felt lost. Alone.

Really, as long as Tommy had Tubbo by his side, he was fine. Tubbo was truly the only one who cared about him enough to stick with him through the years of their friendship. He was grateful to have such a good friend who didn’t use him or mock him.

Back to the bookkeeping situation. The Council of the realms had sent word a while back that the Archipelago didn’t have the bookkeeper from Ignis, and that was when Tommy hid. He didn’t want people to find him. He wanted to stay home—a place he knew and loved despite not having a family other than his best friend, and he didn’t want the attention. He already had enough of it in his life thanks to his curses, so he stayed hidden until a week and a half ago.

Tommy knew the Archipelago held the most important documents to ever exist in all of history—from before their current civilization, all the way back to the first builders—and four extremely important portals. He never heard what they were for, he just figured they were just for normal transportation purposes.

He didn’t need to learn. He didn’t want to go.

But Phil made him feel welcome, despite being a complete stranger he had never seen in his life. He’d already hugged him once in thirty minutes (which... how did that even happen...) He had a chill parental vibe that came off him in waves with a gentle hint of ozone. He just seemed so nice, like he would understand. He seemed to know a lot more than he let on.

Somehow, Tommy felt like he could trust him.

——

They were walking to the center of the main building (it was a long walk, alright?) and Wilbur and Techno were arguing like eight-year-olds.

Phil was leading the way to the center room through the mazes and tall hallways to show Tommy something important (what it was, he didn’t know, but he had a feeling it was something extremely ancient and powerful). He was walking for most of the time, but occasionally he would either float mysteriously or slowly fly a couple feet off the ground. Tommy felt envious seeing the amount of control Phil had over his wings—he never had anyone to teach him how to use his own. And he certainly wanted to be able to learn.

He didn’t want to trust these other magic users, but it looked like he’d have to.

It was a little hard to trust them or take them seriously when two of them were bickering incessantly for absolutely no reason other than they were bored.

"Your mother probably dropped you on the ground far too many times as a baby and that's why your intelligence is so low."

"Hey, hey, Techno. Three things. One, no dissing my mother, you fucker. Two, I’d like to say I’m pretty smart. Three, Thalassa is literally over half covered in water. You expected me to be born on land?”

“What, you didn’t swan-dive into the water the moment you were born? Are you gettin’ your facts straight?”

“ _I was literally the one born, how would you know better than me—_ “

“Look, all I’m sayin’ is—“

Phil sighed, and Tommy observed that he was trying to speed up his walking in an attempt to leave the two farther behind. "Shut the _HELL_ up. _Both_ of you. You’re giving me a headache.”

Wilbur turned his attention to Phil and waved his hands in the air. “ _Ue, ue, ue, I’m Phil and I’m getting a headache like the old man I am,_ ” he mocked playfully. Techno let out a chuckle and crossed his arms over his chest, trying not to laugh.

“You are acting like _children,_ ” Phil said, pinching the bridge of his nose. 

Wilbur gasped in mock offense. "I’m not a child, Phil!"

Phil stopped dead in his tracks and wheeled around to point at the nearest corner. "Well you fucking act like one! To the time out corner you go!"

Out of all the things Phil could have said in that moment, Tommy did not expect him to mention a time out corner. What were they, toddlers?

Techno snickered as Wilbur, sulking, walked to the junction between the walls decorated with tapestries and ornamental weapons. Golden light danced on his skin. "Ha, _nerd_ , imagine being in the time out corner.”

"You too, Techno."

" _Heeeh?_ "

“We’re taking a pause here to show Tommy how things work around here,” said Phil. He turned to Tommy. “If you end up misbehaving, you’ll get in the time out corner too.”

“ _Cringe,_ ” Techno called out from his own corner. He took his sword out from beneath his long misty cape and dragged it boredly and languidly across the smooth marble ground to and fro a couple times, making an awful screeching noise. 

Tommy winced and covered his ears. He could see Phil was about to have a literal aneurysm. “Techno. Stop that right now.”

“Actual child, vouch for me,” said Wilbur (referring to Tommy) with his head fitting neatly in the corner, curly hair mashing against the wall. “I did nothing wrong.”

Tommy sputtered. “I—I’m not a child! And that’s not my name, I’ve already introduced myself!”

He could practically hear Wilbur’s eyes roll. “Whatever, child. Tell Phil I was being good and that I don’t deserve this punishment. I need an unbiased outsider’s opinion.”

“No.”

Wilbur wailed loudly in the time out corner. “You’re being a bitch.”

“So? You’re the one who called me a child.”

“ _Boys!_ ” exclaimed Phil, flapping his wings to generate a huge gust of air that was strong enough to catch their attention—it blew through the room, filling the air with a scent of ozone and rain lingering by the high ceiling. “Enough arguing already!”

The room quieted down, eventually turning silent thanks to a good amount of intimidation. 

Phil inhaled slowly, then let out a long exhale through his mouth. “Good. Now that you’ve all shut up, I suppose it’s time to keep moving. Come along.”

Tommy awkwardly tore himself away from the scene and followed Phil as he began to walk again. He heard some scuffling going around behind him, but didn’t look back, as it was probably just Wilbur and Techno.

Eventually, they got to a pair of enormous doors with enchantments all over it. Tommy could only guess that was the entrance to the main room, given how fancy it was compared to all the other doors he had seen so far. Circuitry and technology glowed softly on the door—probably very well protected. Phil pressed his hand to the middle of one of them, and the door slowly swung open on its massive hinges. 

Tommy entered, expecting it to be just a room with a console and some more books, but it was definitely different than what he thought it would be. His jaw went slack as he stepped in. The sheer amount of awe he was experiencing was overwhelming.

The room they entered couldn’t even be counted as a room—it was just so large. The inside was pure white marble with multicolored orbs of light floating through the air, providing a non-natural light source for nighttime or evening. There were glass decorations and pillars simply everywhere, and they were decorated with gold and silver in delicate brushstrokes transcribing enchantments.

There were numerous skylights in the pyramid-like ceiling, fractaling outwards from the top, letting warm rays of sunlight filter through the room. Some of them  
had tinted glass that also looked like enchantments written in. Perhaps the builders were big on enchantments.

In the center of the room was a large console with various trinkets strewn across the surface. However, on each of the four walls was the most striking feature about the room. Four glowing portals were embedded into said walls, each decorated with _more goddamn enchantments_ and different materials than each other.

One was made of smooth and completely white quartz, fog curling out from the sides and extending across the floor for a little bit. A faint wind seemed to blow near it. The color of the part people stepped through was a beautiful shimmering pale blue—possibly even more pure than the sky.

Another was made of ores and obsidian that glowed slightly in the sunlight. Vines, flowers and moss wrapped around the frame and held it, stabilizing and steady (not that it looked like it was falling apart or anything). The portal fire was a promising and calming green, and swirls of lighter and darker shades undulated within it.

The third was made of prismarine and smelled strongly of sea salt and the ocean, and if Tommy listened through the humming of the portal’s magic, he could hear waves crashing against something and faint bubbling noises. The color of the portal’s fire was deep teal, darker than the light shade of prismarine.

The last portal looked the most ominous and dark out of the four. It was made of blackstone and cracked nether brick. Small pockets of fire sizzled in the stones, doing nothing against the non-flammable materials. The entrance color was a dangerous-looking red and it smelled vaguely of charcoal and smoke.

Phil breathed out, relieved. “Finally. We’re here.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yo yo yo thanks 4 reading B)))
> 
> sorry its kind of short i had a LOT of homework this week and i accidentally wrote double the words so ive kind of split it into two separate chapters :"D hope u enjoyed this one!!!!!
> 
> socials:  
> twitter (heymetamooki)  
> instagram (biquegg)  
> i draw B]
> 
> next chapter will most likely be out by next week !! take care of urself and drink some water ily :D


	5. 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I didn’t ask to be born to protect something so fucking _dangerous_ ,” he hissed.
> 
> Techno put his sword back into its sheath. “Neither did I. You get used to it, kid.”
> 
> mmm more lore time and funnies

Now this was strange.

Tommy was silent for a while, positively awestruck by the grandeur of the room. His mouth opened and closed like a fish. He struggled for words, but managed to get them out eventually, thoughts and questions spinning around in his head.

“Which room is this? What’re these portals doing here?” He asked, admiring a particular tapestry that depicted a beautiful Caeli woman with black and blonde hair holding a sort of blue and white sphere.

Phil walked over to the console in the center of the room. As he moved, circles of the enchantments and circuitry on the ground rippled around his feet, making waves glow where he stepped before fading away. His reflective eyes shined in the light coming from everywhere in the room. “I’ll answer those in a second. For now, let me explain some things.”

Phil motioned for Wilbur and Techno to come  
closer and clasped his hands (an action Tommy already noticed was quite common for him to do), and began to speak slowly as if they were a pair of three-year-olds. Tommy found this side of the strangers absolutely hilarious, but he didn’t want to let them know that. He preferred not to seem too trusting or open right away after meeting people.

“Now, Wilbur, Techno, I want you two to be _helpful_ and _understanding_ if Tommy doesn’t know something, alright? Please just be decent. Can you do that?” Phil enunciated each syllable as if he were a preschool teacher.

“Depends,” said Wilbur, boredly playing with the flowers in Techno’s hair. Techno simply shrugged. Phil sighed as if he had accepted the fact that they were hopeless idiots and turned to the console at his side.

He placed his hand flat on it the same way he put his hand on the door, and the entire blocky structure shimmered for a couple seconds before his eyes did something strange—the blue mirrors turned green for a couple of seconds, and a medium-sized holographic map of the realms appeared, projected into the air.

Phil took his hands off the console, but green strings of light followed close behind; tendrils of some combination of technology and magic that Tommy found absolutely captivating and intriguing. He hadn’t seen technology this complicated for a while— _if only Tubbo could see this,_ he thought. _He’d flip his shit._

Phil pressed his palms together, and when he pulled them apart, the green strings lengthened—and the entire map in the air enlarged greatly, covering the room. Wilbur _ooh_ ed and pointed at a ravine in somewhere that looked like Terram, nudging Techno (who was more preoccupied with his sword and not the incredibly detailed map right under his nose).

Tommy’s mind was pretty much blown.

Phil turned to Tommy, extended his arm out towards the map, and began to explain. “So, you know the four main realms—Caeli, Terram, Thalassa and Ignis. They’re each associated with an element and the landscape fits the element they represent. Caeli’s literally just air and floating islands, Terram is solid earth and deep caves full of ore, jewels, and lava, Thalassa is mountainous with beaches but mostly covered with water, and Ignis is partly underground and very hot. Lots of lava there too.”

“There’s also Aithir, which is the name for the other, smaller realms not encompassed by the four main ones. Right now we’re in Aithir—the main island of the Archipelago is in Aithir and so are some of the smaller ones, but there are others strewn around the main realms too.”

“I already know this,” Tommy whined. He touched the tip of his horns absentmindedly, wanting to get on with the cool stuff. He wanted to know all about the map and the room itself. “I’m not a child. That’s basic information.”

Wilbur snickered in the background, recalling the petty arguments from before.

Phil was clearly in no rush to get to the cool stuff and chuckled, folding his arms into his billowy sleeves. “I just wanted to go over some things, you know?”

“Well, I guess. Continue,” said Tommy, and Phil cleared his throat and resumed.

“In each and every one of these realms, there has to be an order of things, something natural and powerful that puts things in their place and causes certain events or happenings.”

Tommy cocked his head to the side. “You mean just stuff like natural disasters? Those are by chance.”

Silence befell them until Phil shattered it.

“What if I told you it wasn’t by chance?”

The Ignia was confused. Natural disasters couldn’t be controlled. Things of a large scale like those were randomized, they were _natural_ disasters for a reason. Normal. Unpredictable.

“...What do you mean?”

“What if I told you that the Archipelago didn’t have just boring books and documents? What if I told you that the ancient civilizations that came before the realms’ separation had a way to control everything that happened in them? And that these ways also included ways to get into other realms, enchantments, and things only gods could do?”

Tommy was in disbelief by then. “What—”

Phil’s wings spread out a little larger, perhaps puffing up in pride. “What if I told you that we hold the very scrolls that _made the realms split?_ ”

That was most definitely not possible in Tommy’s book.

“There’s… there’s no way. That’s not real. There can’t be that level of magic.”

“See for yourself,” Phil said, grinning, and snapped his fingers. Five very, _very_ old scrolls bound with coloured leather scraps materialized in front of Tommy’s eyes through the map. They shined with the light that emanated from enchanted items, but this seemed like an older magic; something more complicated and dangerous than what him and the other bookkeepers possessed and used for themselves.

There was something hypnotizing about them. He felt as if he could watch floating in the air for hours on end, getting drawn into them. Tommy stared at them, becoming lost in the light.

And then realized he didn’t understand the situation one fucking bit.

He shook his head, snapping himself out of it. Phil laughed. “Yeah, careful. Eventually we learn to get used to it and they don’t affect us. These are just projections—the real ones are somewhere safer.”

“Yeah, s-sure. Anyways…” Tommy said awkwardly, wings shifting around. “...Those things can just control how things happen in the realms? How? And what do you mean by ‘things only gods can do’ and the Split?”

“Well, when someone writes in the scroll that corresponds with a realm, whatever they write happens in that realm. We, as the current bookkeepers, have never written in them, because we have no reason to. The scrolls are dangerous and hold too much power. If someone writes in an elder guardian attack in Thalassa, it happens. If someone writes a tornado in Terram, it happens.”

Tommy’s heart rate slowed and picked up very quickly.

“This is _our job?_ To protect these? Has anyone ever tried to take them or something?”

Techno’s expression soured and he gripped his sword a little tighter. A shadow fell over Wilbur’s face and he stopped playing with the map. Phil… avoided the question.

“For thousands and thousands of years, nobody’s _succeeded_ in taking anything from here or any of the other islands. Us bookkeepers are born with the abilities to protect everything here. We’re assigned the job, but it’s more of a destiny.”

Tommy didn’t like it for one second.

“I didn’t ask to be born to protect something so fucking _dangerous,_ ” he hissed.

Techno put his sword back into its sheath. “Neither did I. You get used to it, kid.”

Tommy sputtered, slightly overwhelmed. “And what about these portals? Are they important too?”

“They’re portals to extremely important temples in each of the main realms that anchor the Archipelago to this exact location, reality, and dimension,” said Techno as if it were an everyday conversation starter.

Tommy gaped. And to think he was beginning to remotely enjoy the experience he was having.

Phil crossed his arms, about to correct the Terran, but the ever-jaunty Wilbur interrupted, face nonchalant and flat.

“So you have to keep all the portals ignited and lit, and if even one of them fades out or breaks, the whole world and space-time continuum is going to explode and you're going to be executed in front of the council and your family for failing your tasks as a bookkeeper.”

Techno patted Tommy on the shoulder awkwardly and stiffly. “It’s really the peer pressure that gets to you, honestly.”

There was another bout of silence before Phil wheezed and Tommy let out a horrified shriek. Wilbur dissolved into a fit of laughter and Techno cackled loudly, both of them finding their antics hilarious.

Tommy absolutely did _not_ find them hilarious and Phil wiped a tear from his eye as the other two dove into hysterics.

“I told you to be _helpful—god dammit,_ that was a—a _good one,_ Wil,” he said, still chuckling. Wilbur was on the floor, and when he caught sight of Tommy’s expression, he lost it again.

Tommy wasn’t sure who to glare at. He wasn’t sure who to hate the most at the moment.

“Oh, god, my st—my stomach hurts _so fucking bad,_ ” gasped Wilbur. He slapped his fist on the ground silently, not even able to laugh out loud anymore.

“You’re cryin’,” Techno pointed out. The light scars he had were glowing brighter than Tommy had ever seen them—a golden and pink colour. He had nearly collapsed, but didn’t go as far as Wilbur.

Techno was right. Wilbur was literally cry-laughing on the ground. Tommy felt like how Phil felt earlier when he had to stop Wilbur and Techno from being annoying, and pressed his fingers to his temples. “Oh my god. You two are insufferable and I only just met you.”

“ _Your face,_ ” Wilbur choked out. “ _It was just so fucking funny, and the noise you made—_ “

Tommy breathed in and out slowly. “This is all too much information to handle.”

Thankfully, Phil had calmed down enough to reasonably understand what Tommy was saying. He made a sweeping motion with his hands and the projection of the scrolls and the map disappeared into the air, console humming before turning off. He nodded. “Yeah, better for you to learn in parts. Sorry if it was a bit overwhelming today, too.”

“...Yeah,” said Tommy, and kicked Wilbur, who was still rolling around on the floor.

“If you’ve got something to do, I can show you to a room we’ve got for you. Your bag is there. Otherwise, we can just hang out or something.”

Tommy’s mind lit up. “Right, I do need to contact a friend of mine back home. He’s probably worried sick.”

Phil clapped his hands. “Perfect! We’ve got your comm and bag all safe anyways. We can head over now if you’d like, as soon as _someone_ stops laughing.”

Wilbur had gotten up from the floor by then and fortunately stopped laughing, not even letting out so much as a giggle. The lanky and tall man straightened out his yellow jumper and sighed. “Yep, I’m all good now.”

Phil looked at Tommy for an answer, and Tommy agreed immediately. “Lead the way, big man.”

And so they set off to Tommy’s new room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope u enjoyed B)))
> 
> **important!!:**  
> the update schedule is gonna be a little slower for this now that i am (HOORAY !!!) rewriting the brownies saga !!!!!!! so i hope u can all be patient w me as i try to speedrun school, mental health, drawing and writing :"]
> 
> as always, da socials:  
> twt: heymetamooki  
> ig: biquegg
> 
> u r so poggers. now drink some water and take a shower and get some rest!

**Author's Note:**

> HI GUYS hopefully i can do my three chapters in one night thing !!!!! also if u know how 2 fix the weird thing where it puts ur notes from the previous chapter on ur notes on another chapter please let me know i dont like it
> 
> i draw and i'm gonna be drawing more of this au on:  
> twitter: @/heymetamooki  
> instagram: @/biquegg
> 
> kudos, comments n subs r appreciated :]  
> drink some water and take a shower and change ur clothes and sleep cause lets be honest if ur on ao3 ur probably the person who would be reading this at some ungodly hour of the night thanks do self care ily !!


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